Beyond Aesthetics. About Art Through the Ideas of Pilinszky and Lévinas

Abstract

In this study, I confine my attention to an ethically valuable concept of art through Pilinszky’s and Lévinas’s theories. Whether regarding the aesthetic statements of Pilinszky, or those of Lévinas, they equally indicate requirements of art which is impossible to comply with in its present form. Pilinszky discerns a crisis in contemporary art, on the other hand, he is sure that there should be another form which can become a real alternative, even after the catastrophic events of the 20th century. Although the same historic background receives a significant role in the œuvre of Lévinas, the relationship between the necessity of the renewed philosophy based on ethics and the question of art - especially if we concentrate on the diversity which characterizes its Lévinasian approach - is far less obvious. My purpose is to examine the difficulties and the paradoxes with the aim of offering answers through a parallel reading.